


The Scorpion and the Frog

by genevievedarcygranger



Series: Negan/Rick fics [33]
Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Drama, Gen, Jailbird Negan, M/M, Negan (Walking Dead) Swears, Negan Being Negan (Walking Dead), Post-All Out War Arc (Walking Dead), prison Negan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 11:38:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17682716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genevievedarcygranger/pseuds/genevievedarcygranger
Summary: Negan wants to know when he will be released.





	The Scorpion and the Frog

When Rick came to feed him, Negan was ready. Instead of giving him the usual silent treatment or insulting his shitty cooking when he passed him the plate of half-burnt meatloaf and lumpy mash potatoes, Negan was polite. “Thank you, Rick,” he murmured quietly and ate in silence. The meatloaf wasn’t that bad actually, just the top was burned, and the lumps of potatoes could’ve been worse that what they were.

He waited until Rick sat down to wait before he started talking. “Rough day, huh, Rick?”

Sighing, Rick rubbed his knee. “What do you want, Negan?”

“How did you fucking know I was gonna ask for something?”

“Carl doesn’t say ‘please’ or ‘thank you’ unless he wants somethin’ from me, too. Usually a trip to the Hilltop to see Enid.” Rick leveled him with a stare. “So, what do you want? Extra blankets?”

Shifting on his bed, Negan was half-tempted to take up that offer. “You’d give me extra blankets if I asked?”

“Is that what you want?” Rick prompted.

“No.”

“Then what do you want, Negan? Don’t waste my time.”

“Fuck, um.” Negan took a bite and used the time he took to chew and swallow to think over again how to ask. “I… I was wondering when the fuck am I do to be released.”

Negan didn’t know it was possible for Rick to frown even more than he already was. It was a look of confusion, though, and maybe one of disappointment. “Never, Negan. You know this.”

“But Rick, wait, here me the fuck out! I’ve never tried to escape and I haven’t hurt a single fucking one of you since I’ve been here. Hell, I’ve had plenty of opportunities and with that fucky leg of yours, it would be just too damn easy to have you bent over the bed so I can fist your goddamn balloon knot, Papaw.” Rick glowered and Negan rushed before Rick could interrupt him. “But I haven’t! I’ve been fucking good. Doesn’t that deserve something?”

“Actin’ with basic human decency does not mean you deserve to be awarded.” Rick sat back in his chair, hands propped on the head of his cane between his outstretch legs.

“Uh, yes the fuck it does, Rick. Once I’m rehabilitated, I’m fucking released. That’s how prison works.”

“When you kill people,” Rick patiently – condescendingly – explained as though talking to a child, “you get life in prison.”

“Riiick,” Negan wheedled, “who hasn’t fucking killed anybody in this brand, new world? I don’t recall your hands being squeaky fucking clean.” He saw Rick’s face darken again, and Negan rapidly backpedaled. “Rick, just think logically here. Why the fuck would I fuck up if you let me out? If I run away, everyone would hunt me down to kill me. If I stay and hurt someone, you’ll punish me again. Do you think I’m a fucking idiot?”

With a snort, Rick turned his head to the side. Negan watched him closely, and he could see that Rick was actually considering it. Progress. But then Rick turned back and asked dryly, “You ever hear this Aesop fable… about the scorpion and the frog?”

Stirring his spoon in his mash potatoes, Negan smeared them over the plate and the burnt parts of the meatloaf. “No, but it sounds kinda badass. Why don’t you tell it to me, Papaw?” He took another bite.

Tilting his head, Rick started, “A frog hops up to its pond, and on the bank, there is a scorpion. The scorpion asks for passage across the pond on the frog’s back, and the frog hesitates, cautious. The frog asks, ‘How do I know you won’t sting me?’ To which the scorpion replies, ‘We’d both drown if I did that.’ So, the frog gives in, being nice and all, and carries the scorpion on its back across the pond. Halfway there, the scorpion stings the frog – and they both start to sink. With its dying breath, the frog croaks, ‘Why did you do that?’ But the scorpion only says, ‘It’s my nature.’ And then they both drown anyway.”

Narrowing his eyes, Negan stared at Rick who only stared back with a face of mock sympathy. “Jesus, Rick…are these the kind of fucking bedtime stories you tell little Judith?”

“Finish your dinner, Negan.”

“You know what, Rick,” Negan put his plate to the side and leaned forward, hands gripping the fabric of his pants on his knees. “Somebody told me once that if I say I’m sorry, that I deserve to be let out.”

Luckily, Rick didn’t examine that statement too closely. He just stood and expectantly held out his hand for Negan’s dinner tray. Without complaint, he passed it over, and Rick turned to leave. “Whoever told you that, Negan, I hope they also told you that when you do finally say you’re sorry, you have to mean it.”

Grabbing the bars, Negan got the last word, though it was said with a note of desperateness he didn't mean to have. "I'm gonna get outta here one day, Rick, and I know exactly how. You're gonna be the one to let me out. You're gonna need me because I'll do the shit that everyone else thinks is fucking unthinkable. I'm gonna be the ones to get my hands dirty for you Saint Rick. Because I know you fucking need a guy like me on the bottom for a guy like you to stay on fucking top." Negan licked his bottom lip, and if he weren't so angry, his mind would be straying further south than it was already. "The day will come that those people out there are gonna need Negan - and the great Rick Grimes is gonna need me, too."

Pausing at the door at the top of the stairs, Rick's feet were the only part of him that was visible. Though Negan couldn't see his face, Rick's icy cold tone was enough for him to get a mental picture. "If that day ever comes when Alexandria needs a savior...I know you won't be my savior." 


End file.
